House Holmgren
House Holmgren is a large Gothic House inside the Kingdom of Bolten, and dominating the town of Ranhold. House Holmgren is the vassal of House Pree of which they have grown to be more powerful then, but the friendship that House Pree holds with House Bolten has meant that House Holmgren has no ability to remove themselves from a vassalship. House Holmgren controls the lands and titles surrounding the town of Ranhold and they have amassed quite the powerbase from this large and populous town. House Holmgren first became noteable after their rise within the town of Ranhold, of which came when the hedge knight Saren Holmgren would enter Ranhold with a mercenary force and sacked the town and killed its Lord House. Following this House Holmgren swore themselves to House Bolten and joined the rapidily expanding Kingdom of Bolten. Following the death of Saren Holmgren the houses reputation as a harsh and violent house shifted and they became more more beloved in Ranhold but did fall down the ladder of importance when it came to the Kingdom of Bolten. House Holmgren would suffer terrible casualties during the Battle of Whispering Woods, and following this they surrendered to the Lannisters and became a part of the Kingdom of Lucerne. History Early History House Holmgren first became noteable after their rise within the town of Ranhold, of which came when the hedge knight Saren Holmgren would enter Ranhold with a mercenary force and sacked the town and killed its Lord House. Following this House Holmgren swore themselves to House Bolten and joined the rapidily expanding Kingdom of Bolten. Following the death of Saren Holmgren the houses reputation as a harsh and violent house shifted and they became more more beloved in Ranhold but did fall down the ladder of importance when it came to the Kingdom of Bolten. The Battle of Whispering Winds Main Article : Battle of Whispering Winds Following the defeat of the Bolten army at the Battle of Green Creek the army of Bolten was in complete retreat, but what forces remained would move under the command of Domeric Bolten and move north of Karhold where they hoped to resist the Lannisters castle by castle until relief arrived at Karhold and pushed back the Starke`s who were incoming as well. These Bolten forces under Domeric would split into half when Domeric took much of the army including many of his finest men in order to deal with the Siege of Hornwood. With the departure Jamie Lannister would push against the castles of the area and took them hold after hold until he reached Castle Whisperwind where he would send an envoy under the flag of peace to the Whisperwind lord of whom they knew from the Bolten traitors was a frightened man that was apt to surrender if threatened. Jamie Lannister would make it very clear that unless Lord Laryn Whisperwind surrendered the castle he would butcher every member of the family and burn the entire castle to the ground. Despite some resistence from his Castellan he would surrender the castle to Jamie in order to keep his family safe, and he would make sure that Jamie knew that he would mobilize his own forces for the Lannisters, or due anything he could to help the Lucernians if only they would not harm his family. With Castle Whisperwind under their control Jamie Lannister would deploy some one thousand troops into the castle, of which were mainly Reyne men, while he led the main force south of the city into the forests beneath the plains that led into Castle Whisperwind. Kevan, and his son Lancel moved to the north of Castle Whisperwind and south of Hayford. At this point Jamie would decide that the time for battle was now and he would have Veryl Reyne prepare the Whisperwinds to send letters to the Bolten forces telling that the Lannisters were sieging them from the west, but attacks south and north had not happened due to the arrival of relief forces in the north from House Cole. House Cole would also send word southward due to their affiliation now with Lucerne describing how they were holding the Lannisters off in the north but that they needed to come very quickly so that they could trap Jamie Lannister. The Trap The arrival of the forces of House Starke under the command of the Lovejoys and their command structure south of the growing Bolten army signaled the final piece of the noose around the Bolten army. The Bolten army begin movement towards defending the castle when the Reyne`s would send out Visin Whisperwind to the Bolten army telling them that the situation had changed and they needed them immediatly as the Lannisters were preparing to assail the castle, and that they wouldn't be able to hold if this happened. Not truly believing Visin due to the fact that he was extremely nervous the Bolten army was stopped and they sent scout out in all directions, in order to try and find out what was happening. Of these scouts nearly all returned stating seeing no signs of a trap, but some returned saying that farmers stated seeing large troop movements nearbye. At this point Tahlin Pree attempted to turn the forces back but was overriden in this decision by Paul Holmgren of whom believed his cousin`s family in Castle Whisperwind. Paul Holmgren would at this point send his eldest son Robbet Holmgren with Visin Whisperwind and a small force of the personal forces of House Holmgren in order to assist them since the debate was still happening. In order to buy even more time for the Lucernian forces to move into position the envoy of Visin Whisperwind before he left with Robbett Holmgren would pass on a raven from the castle saying that they should camp the night and then come in during the morning as the Lucernians appeared to be pulling away for the moment. At this point in the night several of the commanders of some of the more diligent houses including House Istin, and House Rella would attempt to form a reargaurd so that they could abandon the trap that they believed was coming, but they were not allowed to leave as Paul Holmgren, and Tahlin Pree believed they were cowards. During the night though Visin Whisperwind and his cousin Robbet Holmgren would arrive at Castle Whisperwind, and entered the castle where the gate closed behind them, and the thirty men with him, and Robbet were forced to surrender or else the thousand plus Reyne men, and now loyal Whisperwind forces were going to kill them. Robbet was devestated by the betrayal of his cousin, but was taken to the dungeon with the rest of the men, and was commanded to be treated as well as was possible as they didn't want to make the Holmgren's enemies but they did need to defeat them. Defeat of House Isnet While the majority of the forces moved north to deal with the very large Bolten army it was the responsibility of House Tarbeck to defeat the side army of House Isnet. Knowing that House Isnet was a vassal of their potential allies in House Hornwood the forces of House Tarbeck and their vassals were commanded to do their best not to utterly defeat the Isnet army and to try and not kill family members or lords of the army. House Isnet was on the move when the larger Tarback army appeared in front of it, but instead of charging the leadership of House Tarbeck called a parlay with the Isnet`s and met them between the two armies. Meeting together Brodin Isnet would be shown letters from Halys Hornwood where the Tarbecks indicated they wanted no violence against the Isnet`s. Unable to fully trust the Tarbecks but also believing the letter from the Hornwoods they would make the deal that the Isnet`s would move their army into the relatively nearbye Fords of Oirun where they would await word from House Hornwood. House Tarback by this point having achieved their commands would escort the Isnet army to the Fords, while taking exchanging several prisoners between their forces as signs of the deal being honorable. The Battle Now completely surrounded by the forces of Lucerne and the wayward forces of House Whisperwind the army of Bolten would unknowingly walk farther into the trap when they marched on Castle Whisperwind. Approaching the castle they were fired upon by archers and catapults from within the walls forcing them to pull back from the castle and move back to the ambush position. By this point Jamie Lannister and the main army appeared beside them, and Paul Holmgren was quickly able to move the forces in the Lannister direction to meet them. Seeing the Lannister force was significantly larger then them he ordered defensive positions while he sent a small troop of cavalry east to get assistence from Hayford, and Bolten while sending more troops south to try and find House Isnet and their forces. While they waited hopelessly for reinforcements many of their scouts returned bringing news that forces had appeared in the north, and east and also they could see the forces streaming from Castle Whisperwind itself. Seeing himself trapped he commanded the army to split into four and defend each angle of attack. Now surrounding their enemies on four sides the main army under Jamie Lannister moved against the now horribly outnumbered southern echolon of the Bolten army. Arrows fell into the Bolten army in three waves until finally the Lucerne army would charge the dimished force. The battle would be over in minutes as they melted the moment they were attacked, and retreated. Suffering terrible casualties as they fled into the other forces of Lucerne, they would either surrender or were killed by the rampaging Lucernians. Noteable Members Family Members *Franklin Holmgren. Died of sickness **Orellia Holmgren. Died of sickness ***Mary Holmgren (Mary Cole). See House Cole Branch ***Paul Holmgren ****Gwyne Holmgren *****Robbet Holmgren House Cole Branch *Mary Cole **Martin Cole Other Noteables Vassal Houses Category:Houses in Europe Category:Houses in Westros Category:Houses in Bolten Category:Goths